Clergy who conceal abuse should be dismissed-cardinal

“Towards each of the people violated, and their families, I  feel shame and remorse, particularly in those cases when they  were not listened to by those who should have intervened in a  timely manner,” he told Il Sole 24 Ore daily.

“Proven cases of mismanagement, underestimation of the  facts, if not outright cover-up, will have to be rigorously  prosecuted within and outside the Church and, as has already  happened in some cases, will have to result in the removal and  dismissal of the people involved.”

Bagnasco’s words appeared to signal a change of tack as the  Vatican, which until now has brushed off talk of cover-ups, has  come under increasing pressure from abuse victims to speak out  and act decisively to expose predator priests.

The Vatican has been battling growing allegations that it  mishandled and covered up past cases of abuse of children by  priests in the United States and several European countries  because it was concerned more with the image of the Church than  with the victims.

Focus on the pope

The latest accusations have focused on the role of Pope  Benedict when he was an archbishop in his native Germany and the  Vatican’s top doctrinal official before his election in 2005.   Documents given to the media on Friday by lawyers  representing abuse victims in the United States allege that he  resisted pleas to defrock a California priest who had sexually  abused children.

A Vatican lawyer denied on Saturday that then-Cardinal  Joseph Ratzinger had tried to impede the defrocking of the  priest and accused the media of a rush to judgment.

Bagnasco defended the pope from what he called “gratuitous  and defamatory” accusations, saying he had long acted for the  Church “to examine itself and purify itself from those single  individuals who have painfully damaged its image and  credibility”.
“But this vigorous clean-up operation — which obviously  includes a loyal and correct cooperation with civil authorities  — cannot erase the suffering and the disillusionment of the  victims,” he added.

The abuse scandal has rocked the Catholic Church in several  European countries, including Ireland — where a government  report last year said the Church had “obsessively” hidden child  abuse for 30 years — and the Pope’s native Germany.

An opinion poll to be published in Germany’s Focus magazine  on Monday showed a majority of Germans have no confidence in the  Church and a quarter of the country’s Catholics are considering  quitting it in the wake of the scandal.

In a letter to the Irish people last month, Pope Benedict  apologised to abuse victims in the overwhelmingly Catholic  country and ordered an official inquiry.

But he has made no direct public reference since then to the  spreading scandal and did not mention it in his weekly blessing  on Sunday.